1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cartridge that is configured to accept radioactive seeds, to be used in medical treatment of a patient. In particular, the present invention relates to a cartridge that allows for a plurality of radioactive seeds to be stored within the cartridge, and that is adapted to be fitted within a medical instrument to thereby apply one or more of the radioactive seeds to the patient, one at a time.
2. Description of the Related Art
For treating various medical conditions, such as prostate cancer or tumors, certain treatments involve providing radioactive seeds to particular locations within a patient""s body. For example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/763,759, by Steven S. Ravins, Edward Kaplan and Ernest A. Elgin, describes a fiberoptic-guided interstitial seed manual applicator and seed cartridge for applying seeds to a patient. However, that device, as well as other conventional devices, does not allow for a large number of seeds to be inserted into a seed cartridge at the same time, nor do such devices provide a convenient way to determine the remaining number of seeds within the cartridge. Another problem with such conventional devices is that there is no convenient way to test each individual seed within the cartridge to see if each individual seed is still viable.
One object of the present invention is to provide a seed cartridge that can hold a plurality of seeds.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a dual-shield cartridge structure to allow for either a normal operation mode, or a calibration or verification mode for seeds within the cartridge structure.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism to readily determine a remaining number of seeds within a cartridge.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a self-contained shielding sufficient for transportation of a cartridge.